Unexpected trade

The Calgary Flames shocked hockey fans on June 23 when they traded away their all-star defenceman Dougie Hamilton, forward Micheal Ferland and high end defenceman prospect Adam Fox to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for forward Elias Lindholm and defenceman Noah Hanifin.

Flames fans were expecting General Manager Brad Treliving to pull off a trade to acquire a first round or second round pick. Instead he made a splash acquiring Lindholm and Hanifin, which makes them younger and all-round better.

Despite the negative feedback from fans, long term they’re on the winning end of the swap.

The Flames get two former fifth overall picks that arguably haven’t reached their full potential playing in Carolina. Plus new Flames coach Bill Peters has a history with Hanifin and Lindholm when he coached for the Hurricanes.

According to an article by Postmedia sports reporter Kristen Anderson, Peters hinted at the possibility of Lindholm playing on the wing next to Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, as well as the possibility of Noah Hanifin playing along the left side of Travis Hamonic.

Adam Fox decided to head back to Harvard University for his third year with the Harvard Crimson, according to an article by Postmedia sports reporter Wes Gilbertson.

“Adam Fox is a terrific prospect. The reality was, and I’m not going to get into it, there was question of whether or not we could sign him or whether he would sign with us,” Brad Treliving is quoted saying in an article by Kristen Anderson.

Losing Hamilton’s league-leading 17 goals by all NHL defenceman will hurt the Flames short term but longer down the road if Hanifin lives up to his potential he could be just as good or better.

Hamilton has been traded two times in the past three years and is only 25 years old, according to a Postmedia article by Flames columnist Eric Francis.

Micheal Ferland, statistically speaking, improved every year and had a strong start to the season scoring 21 goals but only one goal in the last 27 games according to statistics from NHL.com. This most likely was a reason why he was traded to Carolina.

“I love this kid. Sometimes the business part of the game gets in the way. He’s (an unrestricted free agent) UFA at the end of the year and he’s a good player and they make money,” Treliving said in an article by Francis.